CHAPTER XV. Scone-monkish prophecy-Omnis Terra-round towers-the carse of Gowrie-farm-servants- —Dundee—Boethius-Dr. Johnson-Aberbrothick -the abbey-Montrose-Donnetter-castle-Stonehaver-Aberdeenepigram-the new bridge-the pier-Marischal college-Dr. Beattiethe prison-lunatic asylum. BEFORE I quitted Perth I visited Scone, a little village which stands about a mile and a half north of Perth, on the opposite side of the river, once famous for the royal palace which there, till very lately, gratified the curiosity of the traveller, having been the residence of the Scottish Kings, and the place where they were crowned. The Abbey I before mentioned also stood here. Upon the site, and I believe upon the foundation, of the palace of Scone, which was begun by the Earl of Gowrie, and finished by Sir David Murray, a favourite of King. James VI. a magnificent Gothic mansion, of a red stone, apparently from the same quarry out of which the bridge was built, has been commenced and nearly finished by the present Lord Mansfield. The situation of this princely structure is exquisitely fine it is surrounded with plantations, the Tay finely meandering along the margin of the extensive lawn in which it stands, and the views in all directions, particularly towards Perth, being very beautiful. Adjoining, in a corresponding gloom of yew and fir trees, is a mausoleum of the noble family of Stormont, composed, as I was informed, of part of the aisle of the ancient abbey. It appeared to have been newly faced, and, if I remember correctly, was adorned with pinnacles. In this final depository I was informed there is a marble urn, containing the heart of a foreign lady, to whom Lord Stormont was first married, who died abroad, and requested that this pledge of her love might rest in his family cemetery. Mr. Cant observes that this Abbey was "founded by Alexander I. A. D. 1114, and was dedicated to the Trinity and Michael the Archangel. Our Kings were accustomed to be crowned here; and here the fatal marble chair in which they were crowned was kept, which was sent by Edward Longshanks to Westminster, where it still remains. Edward is supposed to have removed it to counteract an ancient prophecy, conceived in the following monkish lines : "Ni fallit fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum, "Unless old prophecies and words are vain, Where e'er this stone is found the Scots shall reign." A prediction which the accession of James VI. to the English throne was thought to have consummated. There is a small eminence near the house, called generally Boot-hill, and by some writers Omnis Terra, or Every Man's Land: the tradition is, that, at a coronation, each person who wished to see it brought his boots full of earth, which he emptied, and raised a little mound, which enabled him, on his oivn land, to see the ceremony. It is probable that Boot-hill is a corruption of Moothill, or the Hill of Meeting; and amongst the Highlanders it is known to this day by the name of Tom-a-Mhord, or the Hill of Justice. Sudden indisposition, and the time which I lost in consequence, prevented me from seeing the Tower of Abernethy, in the town of that name, near the confluence of the Earn and Tay, distant, as I was inforined, about 10 miles from Perth. There is only another building of the same kind in Scotland, viz. at Brechen. However, from the description given of both by several tourists, I should think they do not differ from the round towers which I saw at Glendaloch, and other places in Ireland. I have seldom quitted any place with more reluctance than I did Perth. Soon after I had left it, I entered the Carse of Gowrie, the pride of the Scotch, and the admiration of every tourist. It is a long narrow plain, extending nearly from Perth to Dundee, about sixteen miles along the northern shore of the Tay, and is bounded on the north by the Sidlaw and other hills, which, sheltering it from that quarter, afford to it a climate benign and favourable to vegetation. This vast and fertile plain, from being naturally a barren sand along the sea-shore, is composed of the finest soil, washed by heavy rains, which fall near the sources of the Tay, the Earn, the Gary, and the Tummel, from the Highlands; the naked summits of whose mountains exhibit every evidence of the spoliation. The fertility of the artificial soil thus deposited is extraordinary. There the English traveller will see English agricultural instruments and English farming almost every where adopted. As I approached Dundee, the Tay presented a magnificent expansion, and rendered the surrounding scenery of prodigal luxuriance exquisite beyond description. The mountains of the Highlands seem to have disrobed themselves to adorn these banks of the Tay, that, as it rolls along, every object may correspond with the majesty of its waters. In the rural economy of this enchanting district, and in many parts of the Highlands, it is worthy observation that the farmservants are not admitted into the farmer's family, but have a separate house, adjoining to the out-offices, where they reside. Besides their wages, they have certain allowances of oatmeal, and money for salt; they have also an English pint of sweet milk, or double the quantity of butter-milk, to breakfast, dinner and supper. The farmer also affords them fuel. Thus, whilst the Carse resembles Arcadia in beauty, the simple food of her swains is Arcadian too. Pork and Bacon, which used to be disgusting to the palate of a Highlander, form a greater portion of the food of the peasant here than in any other part of Scotland. The farmers in this district are very opulent and well informed. The road to Dundee is very good, from which many bye-roads communicate with the different villages in its neighbourhood. / Dundee is a fine town, the most considerable in Forfarshire. The houses are built of stone, the streets are well paved, and the market-place is a spacious square, from which the streets branch out; the shops are very respectable, and appear to be well supplied with every useful and ornamental article. The town-house, which stands in the market-place, is a handsome edifice of stone, erected in 1734, having a neat spire, one hundred and forty feet high. The upper story is allotted to the prisoners, which, on account of their elevation, are well ventilated and secure, and the lower rooms contain the Guildhall, the Court-room, &c. The principal structure, amongst the religious houses, is St. Andrew's Church, which has an elegant spire, and, what is a great rarity in such buildings in Scotland, a fine peal of bells. The harbour is most advantageously situated for commerce; it has been greatly improved under the liberal care of the magistrates; vessels of the largest burthen can have free access to it. At Dundee the Tay is three miles wide; but, being so well - sheltered by high land, horses can cross it, at any time, in ferries that ply on either side. In consequence of the flourishing state of commerce the town is very opulent; and too much praise cannot be bestowed on the liberal and active spirit of the magistrates to render it worthy of the eminent local advantages which it possesses. The staple manufacture of the town is linen; . and a great deal of canvas or sail-cloth, sack-cloth and cottonbagging, is made here. There are also several rope manufactories. In this place the dying of linen-yarn is brought to a greater degree of perfection than any where else in Great Britain, and affords employ for several thousand persons. The salmon fisheries on the Tay are also very productive. This town particularly has at various eras experienced the ravages of war, during the troubles of Charles and the usurpation of Cromwell. At the time when General Monk carried it by storm, so great were its riches, in consequence of the neighbouring gentlemen having brought their moveable wealth into it as a place of security, that every private soldier in the General's army had 60%. sterling for his share of the spoils, which were conveyed in sixty vessels to England. The celebrated Wallace was educated here; and Hector Boece, or Boethius, the historian, was born here in 1470, and studied with great success in the University of Paris, where he formed a lasting and honourable friendship with Erasmus. In 1500 he was recalled to Aberdeen by Bishop Elphingston, who made him Principal of that university. Although his friend Erasmus has said of him that he knew not what it was to make a lie, it appears tolerably evident that he had a strong propensity to fiction. Dr. Johnson thus elegantly speaks of him: "The style of Boethius, though perhaps not always rigorously pure, is formed with great diligence upon ancient models, and wholly uninfected with monastic barbarity. His history is written with eloquence and vigour, but his fabulousness and credulity are justly blamed. The fabulousness, if he was the author of the fiction, is a fault, for which no apology can be made; but his credulity may be excused in an age when all men were credulous. Learning was then rising in the world, but ages so long accustomed to darkness were too much dazzled with its light to see any thing distinctly. The first race of scholars in the fifteenth century, and some time after, were for the most part learning to speak rather than to think, and were therefore more studious of elegance than truth. The cotemporaries of Boethius thought it sufficient to know what the ancients had delivered. The examination of tenets and of facts was reserved for another generation." Dundee was also the place of Lord Duncan. This town, like sion for literature and education. nativity of the late gallant. Perth, displays a strong pasBesides a public grammar Y school, it has English schools, in which, under able masters, the useful and elegant branches of learning are taught. The inns are good here. The neighbourhood is adorned with many neat and elegant villas, which exhibit the opulence of the town and the refinement of the inhabitants. The population is estimated at upwards of twenty-six thousand persons. How singular is it, that, in passing through so fine a town, Dr. Johnson should only have noticed it by observing, “We stopped awhile at Dundee, where I remember nothing remarkable." But perhaps the melancholy humour in which he left the University of St. Andrew's, when the naturally morbid gloom of his mind appears to have assumed a darker hue from having contemplated, as he has praised it, "a college alienated, and a church profaned," was too settled to admit of his feeling and commemorating the charms of a gay, graceful, nd flourishing city. The road to Abroath, or Aberbrothick, will sadly lose by a comparison with that which I had left behind, and I met with nothing to enter in my journal till I reached that town, which is of a tolerable size, and stands upon a small plain, in an amphitheatre formed by a small ridge of hills. The harbour, which is small, but commodious, is entirely artificial, and formed by piers, which afford protection to vessels when they are not able to make any other port. At spring-tides, which rise here fifteen feet, ships of two hundred tons, and, at ordinary tides, ships of one hundred tons, can be admitted. This harbour is protected by a small neat battery, which originated from an attack made on the town, during the American war, by a privateer. But what are most attractive to a traveller in this place are the ruins of the monastery, which excite a high impression of the magnificence of this venerable pile, in its perfect state. It was founded by William the Lion, in 1178, and dedicated to the celebrated Primate, Thomas a-Becket. The monks were of the Tyronesian Order, from Kelso. The last abbot was Cardinal Beaton, who resembled Wolsey in power and splendour. The buildings of this religious establishment were enclosed in a wall, and must have covered a considerable extent of ground. The abbey was built of a red stone, found in the neighbourhood, unfortunately very friable. From its picturesque remains, it is evident that it must have originally possessed much beauty of architecture and sculpture; but time and religious phrensy seem to have overturned its solid towers, and shattered its graceful |